Organic Learning Home Education

A fresh coat of paint

EggSplatter.com - special Organic Learning feed - Mon, 30/08/2010 - 22:59

Today I spent the day painting our Master Bedroom. You see, Father's Day is coming up fast and Sir Sonic wishes to give his father breakfast in bed. Part of that plan was to give Dad a clean, tidy and freshly painted bedroom (free of freestyle texta illustrations and cereal-based hand prints).

At one point whilst painting I realised, since I was painting with such a similar colour, that I could not tell where the wet paint ended and the dry wall started any more. In order to tell I needed to step back and take a look at the whole wall to see where was wet and where was dry.

Later this evening this experience came to mind with three key concepts tied to it - 'being busy', 'dry areas of life' and 'relationships'. What does that have to do with painting walls?

Well, sometimes we just get busy. We do what we need to do and just toil away in our own routine. Sometimes, though we may not realise that we are painting our way through life onto wall that is already wet and missing the dry parts that cry out to be made beautiful once more.

In the same way that I had to step back to look at the wall to take stock and see which part was wet and which part was dry, so we, too, need to make the time to look at our lives and find those areas that are dry and need to be freshened up. Is there a new recipe you have been meaning to try? Is there something simple you can do to decorate your living room? Have you found a new mind-game to play with yourself whilst doing housework? These are all ideas for something new to bring back life to the dry parts of your day.

Better still, and perhaps more importantly, have you brought a fresh coat of paint to those areas of your life that matter most - your relationships? Relationships are so very important for our health and well being so we should not take them for granted. Instead, do something that will invigorate your relationships with family and friends instead!

Is there are friend that you haven't touched base with in some time? Have you treated yourself to something special as a pick-me-up? Have you told someone that you love them recently? What else could you do?

Take five minutes to write down your thoughts on what you can do in your life to freshen up any areas that are looking old, dreary, dusty or marked. If you want, share them with me too by commenting on this post.

Have a great week!

Categories: Australian Home Education, Organic Learning Home Education, Planet Home Education

A change of pace

EggSplatter.com - special Organic Learning feed - Thu, 12/08/2010 - 22:59

Yes, it's true things have been quite busy around here. We have had a big change of pace and I am gearing up for a huge change to my lifestyle. For the first time in a number of years I have found myself writing job applications and reviewing my CV.

The nett result has been a job offer in a retirement village. I have my first training shift on Monday and I hope that the couple of shifts I may get each fortnight puts us in stead for the bills that we are expecting when PJ Bear starts his diagnosis process.

I will do my best to keep blogging - it just may be a little more sporatic.

Categories: Australian Home Education, Organic Learning Home Education, Planet Home Education

Too busy to blog..

EggSplatter.com - special Organic Learning feed - Tue, 10/08/2010 - 02:08

One of the things about having a blog is the need for regular contributions. The interesting part about Egg Splatter is that it is a conglomeration of blogs on one site to spread the burden from one person to many.

In theory, this means more regular blog posts with a lower burden on contributors. Yes, in theory...

These past few weeks business has been chaotically busy at best. I am lucky to have found the time to scratch, at best, and Husband@Work has been just as busy. If it weren't for the meeting of toes in bed at some point during the night I would be sure we wouldn't know each other had 'knocked off' for the day.

Of course, it must be the season for it, maybe even the pre-pre-pre-Christmas rush that has also taken out my co-contributors too! A few have half written ones hiding out the back waiting to be finished off. Some will, no doubt, also be backdated so watch out for that too. We have all had our distractions of one sort or another.

Clearly, I have been so busy that I have not had time to splatter eggs for a few days and it is affecting my sleep. I hope that some writing will ease that and my bed and an accompanying set of toes will help rectify this.

So much for the theory of shared blogging!

Categories: Australian Home Education, Organic Learning Home Education, Planet Home Education

Developing Biblical Knowledge in Young Ones

EggSplatter.com - special Organic Learning feed - Mon, 12/07/2010 - 01:33

Many, many years ago I had a friend, Amy, whom I went to primary school with. As a young child she was passionate about her faith and it certainly rubbed off. We lived in a rural area and there were three Churches in the whole town - the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church and the Uniting Church.

Both Amy's immediate and extended family had some doctrinal issues, so instead, they met as a family on Sunday, broke bread and drank wine and shared their faith and studied God's Word. As part of that time, every few weeks Amy, her siblings and her cousins all did courses provided by the Queensland Mailbox Bible Club. Each completed worksheet is posted back for marking and is returned with the next booklet and so forth as you moved through a set of units to complete a course and then move to the next and so forth.

It is inter-denominational which means that it focuses on the 97-98% of biblical truth that those professing the Christian faith agree on. It also takes steps through a basic understanding of salvation, with several options for self-commitment, as well as then leading into Godly choices and evangelism. In more senior years it then looks at establishing a strong knowledge of God's Word and developing their ability to apply it to life.

A few years ago I caught up with Amy's mother to re-discover the program and find that it is running and that you can now sign up online and they will send the first lesson with a parent permission form.

My children are now into their second course and are excited every time an envelope just for them arrives in the mail. This is more novel than ever with the changing face of phone and internet-based communications. For me, getting those letters is more enjoyable than household bills too!

Categories: Australian Home Education, Organic Learning Home Education, Planet Home Education

Dreamworks and Diversity - the oxymoron?

EggSplatter.com - special Organic Learning feed - Sun, 06/06/2010 - 16:07

English literature and film analysis had it's place in my High schooling years. It was discussed, at the time, how often movies and television programs can act as a reflection of our society and that this can be particularly so for Children's movies which often reflect the values that the writers hold as important.

You know, I thought as a society we were moving forward from an era of discrimination against anyone who is different. I thought the veil of ignorance was lifting and that we were starting to move forward.

Homeschool Mum had not had any issues of discrimination or name calling until her boys got their hands on 'Flushed Away'. Until then, the labels on characters were the 'good guys' and 'bad guys' and the 'good guys' played smart not dirty to get their way. Not entirely so in this Dreamworks creation.

You see there is a point in the movie where Rita, captain of the Jammy Dodger, was boarded by the rats (the 'bad guys') seeking to capture Rita and find her ruby. She was attempting to escape capture...

She deftly dodged the first one as he leapt at her, and a quick grab and a swing dealt with the next pair. But just when she felt she was in with a chance of winning, two big white paws grabbed her from behind.

"What?" she gasped, looking over her shoulder. It was Whitey. "Let me go, you pink eyed freak!" She yelled angrily, twisting to deliver a harsh kick to his snout, knocking off his glasses.

Source: FanFiction

Yep, she played dirty. She found something that made Whitey an individual and used it as a way to isolate him through discrimination. Bad move, Dreamworks, this is the first movie you have made that HS Mum now regrets allowing her children to see and that I will recommend others not to watch.

Categories: Australian Home Education, Organic Learning Home Education, Planet Home Education

Dreamworks and Diversity - the oxymoron?

Kristy A. Bennett's Organic Learning Family - Sun, 06/06/2010 - 16:07

English literature and film analysis had it's place in my High schooling years. It was discussed, at the time, how often movies and television programs can act as a reflection of our society and that this can be particularly so for Children's movies which often reflect the values that the writers hold as important.

You know, I thought as a society we were moving forward from an era of discrimination against anyone who is different. I thought the veil of ignorance was lifting and that we were starting to move forward.

In our home we had not had any issues of discrimination or name calling until my boys got their hands on 'Flushed Away'. Until then, the labels on characters were the 'good guys' and 'bad guys' and the 'good guys' played smart not dirty to get their way. Not entirely so in this Dreamworks creation.

You see there is a point in the movie where Rita, captain of the Jammy Dodger, was boarded by the rats (the 'bad guys') seeking to capture Rita and find her ruby. She was attempting to escape capture...

She deftly dodged the first one as he leapt at her, and a quick grab and a swing dealt with the next pair. But just when she felt she was in with a chance of winning, two big white paws grabbed her from behind.

"What?" she gasped, looking over her shoulder. It was Whitey. "Let me go, you pink eyed freak!" She yelled angrily, twisting to deliver a harsh kick to his snout, knocking off his glasses.

Source: FanFiction

Yep, she played dirty. She found something that made Whitey an individual and used it as a way to isolate him through discrimination. Bad move, Dreamworks, this is the first move you have made that I now regret allowing my children to see.

The problem that I face now is that my children now actively look for and make an issue of differences they see in others. Which, in and of itself, is not a problem until they use it as a label of them or use it as a way of name-calling.

Beyond discussing the inappropriate nature of this behaviour I am somewhat at a loss of how to bring them to a better level of understanding. When I was young I faced the brunt of these behaviours so I struggle to explain the consequences their actions can have on others, just as they had on me.

Through our home schooling lives, we read a lot of books to teach concepts and I have found one that has helped me in dealing with this issue. The book is 'Clancy the Courageous Cow'. Do you have or know of any other book that embraces diversity and illustrates to pointless nature of discrimination? Please share your recommendations with me!

Categories: Australian Home Education, Organic Learning Home Education, Planet Home Education

Getting Into the Physical Body With Young Children

Organic Learning's Read, Play, Learn - Wed, 26/05/2010 - 00:13

One of the greatest books I have found for introducing Science to a young child is the very simple Flip-the-Flap Body Book. This book gives you three areas of the human body to explore. You can select from any one of the book parts in order to explore the digestive system, the senses and the reproductive system. Each subject area is covered at a suitably basic level and is a platform for much laughter whilst answering some of those common anatomical questions.
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The Digestive System

My boys found talking about their digestive system funny at first. I guess everyone has their own reasons why some discussions can make you giggle especially when it comes to gas trying to escape from either end of the system. The upside is that they can now also talk about it quite seriously without breaking into a giggle. This has enabled them to communicate very clearly not only the importance of food but has also been instrumental in developing their understand of a healthy mindset and developing a dietary approach that utilises nutritious food. It also helps significantly when they have a stomach ache!

The Senses

My children also had fun exploring their senses both through the book as well as using some games we played. There is nothing like being blindfolded and being asked what something is by taste, touch, sound or smell! This section has been great for expanding the vocabulary that my children use to extend 'this tastes good' to include descriptions of the taste as bitter, sour, salty or sweet as well as the texture being soft, creamy, mushy, hard, or crispy. It has complimented their skill development also in being able to describe leaves and plants in nature study, or animals that they have seen. The senses can open your children's eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hands to a whole world of exploration.

The Reproductive System

However, the best part for me at the time that we read it was having a book to explain the development of the latest addition to our family without stressing about giving too much information. The book explains very clearly the different physical responses mothers go through from morning sickness to fatigue. It also discusses the baby's development over the nine months and some of the things that they can expect once the baby arrives. It was a great chapter that was read over and over in the final weeks. As their expectation of the baby arriving grew so did their desire to read this chapter! The only issue we have not dealt with is the fact that there is a belief that sperm can be differentiated into 'boy sperm' and 'girl sperm' by their color - which you will understand when you buy the book!

You can find out more about the Usborne Flip-the-Flap Body Book and view a range of activities that complement learning from this book at http://readplaylearn.com.au/usborne-flip-flap-body-book. Organic Learning's Read, Play, Learn web site has been developed on the basis that 'where there is fun learning follows'. The goal of the web site is to equip parents and teachers to demonstrate that reading books is fun and that there are plenty of stimulating activities that can complement them. Making reading enjoyable takes 99% of the sweat out of teaching literacy.

Organic Learning is a web based community dedicated to supporting the journey of life long learners with a special focus on the home education community. You can read the blogs of home educators, find articles on home education and find a range of other resources all on http://organiclearning.com.au/.

Categories: Australian Home Education, Organic Learning Home Education, Planet Home Education